Sunday, March 22, 2015

cottonwood bark cottage update

Yesterday I was preparing to put a finish on the cottage and thought it was a bit dull so decided I would add some extra to it to try and give it some personality. I carved some curved lines around the door and expanded them out all throughout the cottage. I also rounded the edge of the yard area to give it a more defined and natural look.

I was somewhat happy with what I had done but decided I would get out a tool rarely used any more, my detail master. I will look at utilizing this tool in the future with other carvings. I have had this since the mid 80's and it is still going strong. I decided I would try it out on cottonwood and see how well it would take detailing. The wood was easy to detail and I didn't have to set the settings very high to get the effect I was hoping for. A heads up for others looking to use a similar tool, soft to the touch is highly recommended. After burning in some more detail it seemed as if I had potentially burned the lines too dark for this wood but remembering I would be giving the cottage a sealant coating I knew it would darken the wood. As you can see it did just that. The sealant also helps to highlight features like the shingles on the roof and the bricks that make the chimney. Overall I was happy with the finished carving and have been told by family members that they would like to keep this one, who am I too argue.